Platforms for present-day ICAs

Underneath, you will find some examples of platforms uniting and/or supporting several present-day institutions for collective action. Clicking on the name or logo will redirect you to the individual homepages of these platforms.

This is a knowledge center that is concerned with societal problems concerning living, well-being, and care. This institution is involved in a platform that aims to provide citizens' initiatives with knowledge and help about certain issues.

This is an organization which aims to support the renewal of the democracy. This is not a research institute as such, but an organization that practically supports initiatives. Questions that are central in doing so are: how can we best support citizen initiatives?, how and where do new vital coalitions and institutions arise that create a more sustainable society and democracy? And how can democracies change?

In the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, several parties have come together to form a platform. The aim of this platform is to give successful examples of initiatives of citizens that contribute to the livability of ‘kleine kernen’ (best translated as small-scale regions in the country-side); by doing so the platform hopes to enthusiast and motivate citizens of other ‘kleine kernen’ to set up initiatives in care and livability in their village.

Developed by Kracht in NL and launched in 2014, the MAEX is a platform aiming to map Dutch initiatives and social enterprises and show the social value these collectives create. The personal profiles of the nearly 1,000 initiatives not only show their impact on society, but also their needs (e.g. funds or volunteers). In this way, the MAEX is also an excellent tool for government bodies, companies, and funds who wish to invest in or cooperate with initiatives. Currently Kracht in NL is setting up local MAEX’s intended for initiatives in the cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. More information on: www.maex.nl

RUIMTEVOLK is a prominent platform for knowledge of and inspiaration for urban and regional development, as well as a networking society. As of 2007, RUIMTEVOLK stimulates innovation, the development of knowledge, and networking on spatial, social, and economic issues in cities, villages, and neighbourhoods. RUIMTEVOLK is rooted in the spatial domain (planology and city architecture), but has always explicitly promoted interdisciplinary cooperation. RUIMTEVOLK considers designing cities and villages in a sustainable manner to be a continuous and exciting cooperation of stakeholders, owners, and users; RUIMTEVOLK aims tocontribute implicitly to innovation of the spatial domain and to the search for a new role and meaning of spatial design.

The Kamer van Coöperatie [transl. 'Chamber of Co-operation'] is a joint initiative of Rabobank, the pension fund PGGM, insurance company Achmea, the association for agricultural entrepreneurs ZLTO, and The Netherlands Institute for Cooperative Entrepreneurship (NICE). Its purpose is to inform and consult companies that want to start a co-operative. The initiators feel that throughout the ages the concept of the co-operative has proven to be an endurable way of entrepreneurship.